Posts Tagged ‘Ashdod’

Hamas terrorists unleashed a fierce missile barrage on central and southern Israel at midday Monday, but the hand of God nevertheless intervened to protect Israelis from physical harm.

No physical injuries were reported but at least one home was damaged in the attack in Ashdod where an open miracle occurred. An M75 missile slammed into a home, crashing through the ceiling and landing on the floor of a balcony (see photo, courtesy of ashdod.net) — but it did not explode, greatly limiting the damage to the home. Family members remained safe in the apartment’s internal bomb shelter room, meanwhile; although they were traumatized by the incident, they were physically unharmed.

Despite the terrorists’ efforts to remind the IDF that Gaza’s ability to wage war has yet to be impaired, the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system intercepted two M75 missiles over metro Tel Aviv and two others over the port city of Ashdod. The attack sent more than one million Israelis racing for bomb shelters across the southern and central regions. Heavy barrages were aimed at greater Ashkelon, Rehovot, Ashdod, the Gush Dan region including metro Tel Aviv, Bnei Brak and Ramat Gan, Rishon Lezion and Beit Shemesh, among other major population centers.

Barrages continued through the afternoon. A missile exploded in an open area on the outskirts of Rishon Lezion shortly before 1:00pm, igniting a fire but physically hurting no one. Three missiles intercepted over the coastal city of Ashkelon at approximately 1:30 pm. Five minutes later, three shorter-range Qassam rockets exploded in open areas in the Sdot Negev Regional Council district. No property damage was reported, and no one was physically injured.

On every radio talk show program, Israelis called in to express their firm resolve to endure, to get through the war and wait it out in their bomb shelters for however long it might take, as long as the IDF continued to persevere in its goal to “silence the rocket fire permanently this time and eliminate the tunnels.”

Meanwhile, outgoing President Shimon Peres told reporters Monday morning that it is essential that Israel continue Operation Protective Edge until the conflict is decisively won.

“We must win this war,” Peres said. “Hamas planned a massacre in Israel.”

The president’s remarks came in the wake of a foiled infiltration early Monday morning in which two massive squads of terrorists were spotted emerging from two separate tunnels between two kibbutzim along the Gaza border.

Residents in Nir Am and Erez were quickly ordered to remain in their homes and lock their doors, as Israeli air force pilots targeted one terror cell, and ground forces engaged the other. All of the terrorists were eliminated in the fierce fire fight that followed.

An 8-year-old boy in Ashdod was injured by flying shrapnel Monday when a missile exploded at midday in a yard. A car was set afire by the same explosion.

A barrage of six missiles were fired at the port city of Ashdod at 12:30 pm, with four intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system. A third landed near a home in the Ashkelon Coastal region, damaging the house. No one was physically hurt in the attack.

In mid-afternoon, another rocket exploded in the space between two homes in Sderot. Miraculously, no one was physically injured.

Gaza terrorists continue to launch barrages of rockets and missiles at Israel, with the focus of their attacks on Monday morning and afternoon concentrated on the southern regions. A number of other attacks were fired at the coastal city of Ashkelon as well as other areas.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) – also known as a drone – was shot down with a Patriot missile in the early morning hours by IDF forces deployed near Ashdod.

The explosion from the interception was heard as far away as the Jerusalem suburb of Beit Shemesh, in central Israel, readers reported, triggering air raid sirens at approximately 6:30 a.m. local time.

Hamas terrorists later boasted they had sent the drone to photograph shots of the IDF’s Kiryah headquarters in Tel Aviv, and had succeeded in acquiring the intelligence they wanted.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, however, praised the Iron Dome crew that had been alert to the threat and shot down the drone. At a briefing later in the day, Ya’alon pointed to the soldiers’ spotting the drone as an example of the IDF’s “readiness in the face of [their] attempts to harm us in any way they can.”

The IDF spent time this past year drilling precisely for such a scenario, with combat helicopter and fighter jet pilots taking part, according to the Israel Air Force website. Israeli forces are prepared for all types of threats that might face the Jewish State, and have been dishing out a few of their own.

“When Hamas leaders emerge from hiding they will see the extent of the destruction and damage that we have caused their organization, and that will make them regret they entered this round of fighting against Israel,” Ya’alon told reporters.

“We continue to smash Hamas and its infrastructure. They have suffered great damage. We have destroyed weapons factories, tunnels, terrorists’ homes and institutions and we will continue this activity today.”

Public Security Minister Yitzchak Aharonovitch told journalists at a briefing in Ashdod Friday morning the IDF is preparing plans for the option of a ground invasion into Gaza after further military escalations by Hamas.

The statement came following a missile attack that scored a direct hit on a gas station in the Mediterranean port city earlier on, striking a fuel truck. The resulting explosion left one man critically wounded and two others moderately to lightly injured.

“This is a complex conflict and we are hitting them hard,” Aharonovitch said. “We are preparing for the option of a ground incursion,” he warned. “Everyone should follow the instructions of the Home Front Command.”

Late Thursday Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ended a marathon security cabinet meeting with the announcement that Operation Protective Edge is proceeding as planned. “More stages are coming,” he promised, without revealing what those might be, or when they would be carried out.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz likewise were mum on the subject, backing the prime minister in reassuring Israelis that everything was going according to plan — but revealing little else.

In Tel Aviv, three M75 missiles were shot down directly over the metropolitan area by the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system, the shrapnel from the interception dropping directly on to the city from the skies.

Israeli police patrolled the streets of Tel Aviv in an effort to keep curious residents from touching the sharp metal, some of which may have had chemical agents sprayed on to it.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said officers remained on site to prevent residents from hurting themselves.

No injuries were reported in the attack itself.

In Jerusalem, police blocked entry for Friday prayers at the Temple Mount in the Old City for all Muslims other than women of any age, and males age 50 and older who were carrying Israeli identity cards.

Security forces remained on alert at the site and prepared to deal with any outbreaks of violence, which often take place due to incitement during sermons in the mosque at Friday prayers. Friday is the Islamic Sabbath.

The Iron Dome anti-missile system was hard at work midday Thursday, intercepting missiles fired almost without stop by terrorists in Gaza.

Since midnight, at least 16 missiles have been shot down by the Iron Dome.

Shortly after 2 pm, a barrage of Grad Katyusha missiles were fired at the Negev city of Be’er Sheva. At least three of the missiles headed straight for the city, in two separate attacks. All three were intercepted by the Iron Dome.

A barrage of at least 20 rockets and missiles was fired at southern and central Israel around midday Thursday. The Hamas terrorist organization took responsibility for the attack.

Most of the missiles targeted the coastal cities of Israel, exploding over the port cities of Ashdod and Ashkelon.

The Iron Dome system intercepted three missiles above Ashdod, two more above Ashkelon and another two above the Gush Dan region — all headed directly for high population areas.

A shark attacked a fish pond worker at the port city of Ashdod Sunday and bit off part of his hand before he was rescued and rushed to a hospital in Tel Aviv., where his is recovering from moderate wounds.

The man, described to be in his late 20s, was working in fish cages when the shark attacked, a relatively rare occurrence in Israel.

Last year, two fishermen were surprised when they caught a shark weighing more than 100 pounds. In April 2005, two sharks were captured in two separate incidents off the coast of Ashkelon, approximately five miles south of Ashdod.